Apparatus for treating fish and fish refuse.



No. 720,789. I PATENTED FEB. 17, 1903. J. DELATTRE.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING FISH AND FISH REFUSE. APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 1,1901.

1T0 MODEL. 2 SEEETSSHBBT 1..

W veMeaw- I YHE NQRII3 PETERS co, muroumarmsumcm, ov a No. 720,789.BATENTED'PEB. 17, 1903.

J. DELATTRE. APPARATUS FOR TREATING I'ISH AND FISH nnrusn,

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1, 1901.

H0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2' UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

JULES DELATTRE, or DORIGNIES-FLERS, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR To soonirfi ANONYMEDEPURATION DEs n AUx-vANNEs ET DEXTRAGTION DES MA- TIEnEs GRASSES PARLES PR'ooEDns DELATTRE, or ROUBAIX, FRANCE.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING FISH AND FISH REFUSE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 720,7 dated February1903- dpplicstion filed June 1,1901. Serial No. 62,693. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J ULES DELATTRE, en gineer, a citizen of theRepublic of France, and

a resident of Dorignies-Flers, Nord, France, have invented new anduseful Improvements in Apparatus for the Treatment of Fish and FishRefuse for the Purpose of Transforming Them into Fish-Oil andFish-Manure, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an apparatus for the treatment of fish andfish refuse, with the object of transforming them into oil andfishmanure, under conditions which are at the same time both economicaland hygienic and which leave no residue.

Hitherto the extraction of oil from fish necessitated a preliminarycooking of the raw material. This is a costly operation possessing thedisadvantage of giving off infectious 2o Vapors and odors and producinga cooking water the drawing ofi of which is extremely difficult andattended with the most serious objections.

My apparatus enables me to commercially carry out a new process whichentirely does away with the preliminary cooking with all itsdisadvantages, and which consists, essentially, in mincing ordisintegrating the raw fish or the fish refuse, so as to form a kind ofpulp, then treating such pulp with a solvent of fatty bodies. This verysimple process permits the extraction of practically the whole of theoil, leaving behind as a residue a material which after dryingconstitutes a pul- 5 verized manure of great value. It is equallyapplicable to fresh fish, to salted or smoked fish, to whole fish, or torefuse, entrails, &c.

As carried out substantially in the manner to be presently described myprocess may be applied even to the treatment of bad fishthat is to say,more or less decomposed--without any preliminary treatment and withoutany complication of a commercial or hygienic nature resulting therefrom,the oil becoming 5 purified in a most complete manner in my apparatusand the residues being disinfected by the extracting agent and by themethod of extraction, which destroys all germs.

I will now proceed to describe my apparatus by the aid of theaccompanying drawings.

Figures 1 and 1" show in vertical section, respectively, the left-handpart and the right-- hand part of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a verticalsection showing a modification of the construction of a portion of theapparatus.

As will be seen from the description, the whole of the work is carriedout with the exclusion of air in'a closed apparatus and in an automaticmanner. The fish just as it arrives at the works, no matter in whatcondi- 6o iion, is introduced into the apparatus, and the latter prodmice, on the one hand, a limpid solution of oil in the solvent employedand, on the other hand, the dry and pulverized fish-manure. I

The drawings will enable the course of the operation to be readilyfollowed. The raw fish is thrown into the hopper s of a mincer a orother analogous disintegrator, which has the eftect of dividing the massinto an almost homogeneous pulp. This pulp flows out into the verticalcylinder 1?, which serves as the feeding apparatus for the oil-extractord d.

The introduction into the extractor is efiected. by the pushing actionof a helix 2, which pre- 7 5 vents all choking.

The extracting apparatus (Z d, properly so called, is of an analogoustype to that which is described in the specification of my United StatesPatent No. 671,131; but it includes additions which are of the utmostimportance for this special application. In principle it is composed ofa slightly-inclined cylindrical tube of great length cl (1,. closed atits two extremities and traversed at its axis by a shaft j, passing tothe two ends into the stuffingboxes -n n and supported interior-1y bythe bearings q, placed at suitable distances apart.

This shaft may be in a single section or length, actuated at oneextremity or at both, or it may be divided into lengths, either equal orunequal, actuated separately. It is provided with blades y and rakes orforks w, fixed in variable positions around the axis j, the blades so asto carry around the material to be 5 treated and mix itintimately withthe solvent, the rakes or forks so as to thoroughly divide up the massand to avoid the formation of lumps or balls, which would not allow thesolvent to penetrate. At its highest part the tube of d isprovided witha column 9, which may be cylindrical, Fig. 1, or of elliptical form,conical againthat is to say, with a section increasing from bottom totop, as in Fig. 2. This column has for its object to facilitate thedecantation of the fatty solution on its delivery from the apparatus.When it is conical, it acts not only by its capacity, but also by thediminution of the speed of the ascension of the liquid from the bottomupward. The column p is closed by a cover t, provided with a tube M,which serves for the escape of the air and the vapors which may form inthe apparatus. With regard to the delivery of the fatty solution thistakes place through a lateral tube 10. I might complete this arrangementby employing an interior annular gutter 1', which has the effect ofcompelling the liquid to flow right around the edge of thedecanting-column in a regular layer, so as to avoid the formation of acurrent capable of carrying along solid matters. Throughout its lengththe tube cl d is provided with manholes 1, allowing access to theinterior and the renewal of the bearings. It may be divided into severalsections arranged in a zigzag. At the lower part the tube d d isprolonged by an acutely-inclined tube 6, connected with anothercylindrical tubefg, in which is arranged a worm elevator 2 or other formof conveyer. The tube fg may be surrounded by a double envelop toreceive steam with the object of heating the rising material, whichoffers a great advantage for the continuity of the operations, as willbe shown later on. The tubefg rises at least to a level as elevated asthe supplymincer a. It terminates at its upper end in an enlargement,from which descends a chute h, and which at its higher part is providedat its upper end with a tube q, connected with any form of condensingapparatus. The chute 7t communicates at its lower end with a cylindricalhermetically closed drum 70, which is surrounded either completely or upto the level of its axis only byadouble Wali4, in which steam forheating is also caused to pass. This cylindrical drum 7c is traversedbya shaft 5,which I preferably make hollow and which is provided withhollow helices or hollow blades of helicoidal form 6, having for theirobject the carrying forward of the material slowly from one extremity tothe other. As steam is supplied to the shaft and the blades, thetraveling of the material takes place at same time as it is beingtreated. At the extremity of the drum this material falls through a tubeZ into a trough m, which may be either closed or freely open to the airand which, like the drum 7c, is surrounded by a steam-jacket 7. Thistrough is provided with a shaft having a helical or other conveyer 8,having for its object to carry the material along while continuing toheat it and divide it up. At the extremity of the trough m, the lengthof which is sufficient for imparting to the material the desired degreeof dryness, the dried product falls directly into sacks or barrels 10.Provision may also be made for subsequently pulverizing it; but this isnot a necessity when the disintegrating mincer is suitably adjusted.

As I have above stated, the raw fish introduced into thedisintegrating-mincer a is transformed into paste or pulp, containingthe bones, the fins, the flesh, the entrails, &c. This pulp falls intothe feed-column b, is pushed by the worm z toward the tube 0, and entersinto the extracting apparatus d d, which it traverses from the topdownward. The solventbenzin, sulfuret of carbon, or other solventisintroduced toward the lower end of the tube 61 d at 0 and traverses thistube from the bottom upward. The blades y and the rakes or forks m keepup a continual agitation and division of the mass, and the circulationin opposite directions of the product to be deprived of its fat and ofthe solvent has for effect to methodically exhaust from the fish all theoil which it contains. The baffles v, placed at suitable distances apartin the upper zone of the tube d d, prevent the light solvent fromrapidly reaching the top of the apparatus, and the blades prevent theseparation. The solvent charged with fat gradually attains the upperpart of the tube 07. d, where no blades are situated. It thus separatesitself from the material under treatment and rises up in the drawing-offcolumn 19, whence it issues by the upper tube to and proceeds to adistillation apparatus of any type, which regenerates the solvent andfrees the oil. The latter may then be submitted to ordinarypurification; but I prefer to effect the purification of the fattysolution between the extractor and the distiller either by decantation,filtration, or centrifugal separation. Experience has shown me,

moreover, that such purification is easily effected, the solutionbecoming well and rapidly clarified.

It should be pointed out that the extraction process is carried on coldwithout any other preparation than the reduction of the fish to pulp.Provision might, however,'be made for heating, if for certain rawmaterials or in certain regions it should be found beneficial. This canthen be effected either by means of a double envelop or jacket with acirculation of steam or hot water around the tube (1 d or by placing atthe lower part of the interior of the tube a steam-coil.

The pulp to be treated descending through the tube d d encounters purerand purer benzin or other solvent. It is thus exhausted of its fat andarrives at the lower part of the said tube 61 d entirely deprived ofsame. It then falls through the tube 6 into the worm or elevator f. Thelower part of the tube d d not being furnished with blades nor withbaffles, there is practically no solvent below the entrance-pipe 0; butin order to correct any accidental passage of same and, further, toavoid any loss of the solvent the material is heated in the elevator fg. The vapors disengaged from the solvent escape by the tube qand passto the condenser. When the heated material from which the fat has beenextracted arrives at the top of the elevator f y, it falls through thepocket or enlargement it into the dryingdrum Zr, which it'traverses fromone end to the other. The last traces of the solvent are carried offwith the water-vapor through the tube q to the condenser. Finally fromthe drying-drum k the material falls into the trough m, where the dryingis completed. The

vapor from the water may without inconvenience be allowed to escapefreely into the air, for after the preceding operations it has generallyno bad smell. If there is any objection to this, the trough may beconnected by a mantle with the chimney-shaft of the works.

It is important to note that the only water to be evaporated is thatwhich the flesh of the fish contained, which represents an infinitelysmaller quantity than is the casein processes requiring a preliminarycooking. The entire evaporation, economically effected by the system ofdouble heating envelops or jackets,

which may be connected together, so as to effectively utilize the steam,and which are provided with automatic blow-oft cocks r, avoids allresiduarywater or efiiuent. If the heating in the drum is has taken offa certain quantity of Water, it is condensed in the condenser with thesolvent and it is separated therefrom by the employment of an extractorknown as a Florentine receiver without any difficulty. The minimumquantity of Water deprived of germs by the distillation can cause noinconvenience.

I claim- 1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combinationof a mechanical disintegrator for transforming the matter to be treatedinto pulp, a mixing-extractor in which the pulp and a solvent are causedto circulate in opposite directions, and a closed column containing arotary helix between the outlet of the disintegrator and the inlet ofthe extractor for taking the pulp from the disintegrator to theextractor in a continuous mantreated into pulp, a mixing-extractorinwhich the pulp and a solvent are caused to circulate in oppositedirections, a connection between the outlet of the disintegrator and theinlet of the extractor through which the pulp passes from said outlet tosaid inlet in a continuous manner unexposed to the air, a closedelevator having a tubular connection at its lower part with the outletof the extractor, means for heating said elevator, an escape-tube forvapors at the upper end of said elevator, and a chute for the dischargefrom the top of the elevator of the matter from which the grease hasbeenextracted, substantially as herein described.

8. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of amechanical dis-- integrator for transforming the matter to be treatedinto pulp, a mixing-extractor in which the pulp. and a solvent arecaused to circulate in opposite directions, a closed column containing arotary helix between the outlet of the disintegrator and the inlet ofthe extractor for taking the pulp in a continuous manner unexposed tothe air from the disintegrator to the extractor, a closed elevator atthe outlet of the extractor, means for heating said elevator, anescape-tube for vapors at the upper end of said elevator, and a chutethrough which the matter from which the grease has been extracted leavesthe top of the elevator, all substantially as herein described.

4. The combination, with the disintegrating-mincer and theoil-extracting apparatus, of a mechanical delivery apparatus with asteam-jacket, a drying-drum and a final drier, substantially as hereindescribed.

5. The combination of the mechanical disintegrator, the extractor, thefeeding-column and contained rotary helix which connects thedisintegrator and extractor, the steamjacketed mechanical elevator, theevaporating-dru m, and the final drier, all essentially as hereindescribed.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of two witnesses, this 17th day of May,

JULES DELATTRE. Witnesses:

' E. DUFOVERT, NOEL DHULD.

